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yrian Organization: A Safe Haven for Opponents and Support for Kurdish Activists
The Democratic Assyrian Organization is a nationalist Christian political body that seeks to protect the existence of the Assyrian people and their legitimate national aspirations. The organization was established on July 15, 1957, in the city of Qamishli and is currently headed by Dawood Dawood.
In statements made to "The Levant" newspaper, Hossam Al-Qass, a member of the media office of the Democratic Assyrian Organization, highlighted the prominent role played by the organization in protecting many opponents of the Assad regime.
He explained that the organization’s headquarters in Qamishli has become a safe haven for these individuals amid the security persecutions they faced.
Al-Qass also added that the organization contributed to the rescue of several Kurds during the uprising in 2004, as the headquarters provided Kurdish activists with a chance to escape the arrests and security pressures imposed by the Syrian regime during that period.
The organization describes itself as "a democratic nationalist political organization aimed at preserving the national existence of our people and achieving their legitimate aspirations at the political, cultural, and administrative levels in their historical homeland, the land of Mesopotamia." The organization adopts a peaceful approach in its efforts to build a pluralistic civil state and a democratic system.
The organization was notably active during the "Damascus Spring" movement and participated in founding the "Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change" on October 16, 2005, but later withdrew.
With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, the organization expressed its support for the revolutionary movement, and its members participated in it, resulting in the arrest of 28 of its members. On December 19, 2013, Gabriel Moshé Kouria, then-head of the organization’s political office, was arrested by regime forces on charges of terrorism but was later released. The organization rejected foreign military intervention and the arming of the opposition, declaring its support for dialogue with the Assad regime to achieve a peaceful power transition.
The organization also contributed to the establishment of the Syrian National Council and engaged in the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, becoming an independent component within it in mid-2014.
In 2012, the organization proposed the creation of a National Body for the Syrian Jazira, as a political and administrative framework that includes joint governance among the three components: Arabs, Kurds, and Assyrian-Syriacs through local councils. Although the project failed due to "Kurdish disagreements," the organization believes that the Kurdish self-administration emerged to fill the vacuum, but criticized its formation without consensus among the key components.
The organization had previously condemned the Turkish military attack on the city of Afrin, calling on the Turkish government to cease it, holding it legally and politically responsible for the assault.
On July 28, 2020, the organization formed an alliance with the Arab Council of Jazira and the Euphrates, the Tomorrow Movement, and the Kurdish National Council, under the Peace and Freedom Front, which defines itself as a political alliance framework aimed at building a decentralized pluralistic democratic system that guarantees the dignity and freedom of Syrians and prevents terrorism, extremism, and exclusion.
